Schoolchildren have right to be believers, but not bullies (Julie Mack column)

When I was a Catholic schoolgirl in the 1960s, I had the strong, sincere conviction that only Catholics were going to heaven
and everybody else would end up in hell.

In fourth grade, my parents transferred
me to public school, and it was shocking to be suddenly surrounded by
Protestant classmates — i.e., heathens. Still, I knew enough to hold my
tongue, although it took a few more years to see heaven as bigger than
a Catholic-only destination.

Even so, through my high school years I
continued to embrace Catholic ideals about premarital sex, unwed
pregnancy, unmarried couples living together, abortion and
homosexuality. I certainly voiced my views in spirited debates with
friends and classmates. But there was no need to, say, tap pregnant
teen moms on the shoulder and cast personal judgment, no compelling
reason to harass peers whom I pegged as sinners.

Even as a child steeped in strong religious convictions, I fully understood such behavior would be hurtful and wrong.

The bill mandates that schools develop
anti-bullying policies. But it also tells schools they must make
exceptions for “a statement of a sincerely held religious belief or
moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or a
pupil’s parent or guardian.”

As a friend said, “it’s going to take
about two seconds” for students to realize this little clause will give
kids — or adults, for that matter — license to say whatever they want,
not matter how cruel or hurtful, as long as they’re clutching their
Bibles while doing it.

Michigan schools Superintendent Michael
Flanagan normally stays out of the political fray. But he was so
incensed by the Senate’s action that he issued a statement that didn’t
pull any punches.

The statement: “There should never be
an excuse or reason or justification for anyone to bully, intimidate,
or harass a student. I cannot imagine any real moral conviction or
religious teaching that says it is acceptable to inflict pain,
humiliation, and suffering on another person, especially a child. The
legislation, as passed by the Michigan Senate, is a disappointing
development in a process that we have worked on so diligently together
for the protection of all schoolchildren in Michigan. After my long
relationship with families of children who have committed suicide after
being bullied, I find this bill now to be a joke, especially as it is
named in memory of one of those children.”

Friday morning, I happened to be talking with Kalamazoo Public Schools Superintendent Michael Rice and asked him what he thought
about the Senate bill.

“It’s a outrage,” he said.

Supporters of the bill say it simply reinforces people’s First Amendment rights. But considering the First Amendment isn’t
going anywhere, an anti-bullying bill that makes an exception for “a statement of sincerely held religious belief or moral
conviction” seems, at best, bizarre and at worst, totally undermining of the law’s intent.

Consider that some of the worst, most painful bullying is verbal.

Consider, the long, long, long history of hate that springs from “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

Consider the vulnerability of children who are gay or non-Christian or who live in nontraditional families if this clause
remains in the law. And consider that the law could cut both ways: In some schools, those vulnerable to bullying could be
the homophobic or fundamentalist Christian kids.

Nobody is asking kids to change their convictions. The issue here is mean-spiritedness and intolerance.

Why give people an excuse to behave badly?

Schoolchildren have an absolute right to their beliefs, but they don’t have the
right to make life miserable for classmates who don’t share their views of the world.